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Old 01-05-2013, 16:38   #1
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Sailor lost overboard

This in from Latitude 38...

"An experienced 38-year-old British sailor crossing from Osaka, Japan — where he'd been working for the last three years — to Hawaii, with plans to continue on to Southampton, UK, reportedly fell overboard on Saturday night about 575 miles west of Midway Atoll. Luke Stimson's fiancée, Laura Vernon, contacted authorities via sat phone after Stimson fell overboard — conscious and wearing a PFD — in 25-knot winds and 6-ft seas. According to news reports, Vernon was an inexperienced sailor and could only watch as the 38-ft Jonetsu sailed away from Stimson. She was rescued by a Navy helo Sunday morning.
An intense 50-hour search of the area, which turned up no signs of Stimson, was suspended yesterday. It's unknown how Stimson fell overboard".

For what it's worth. If I am sailing with one other person onboard, I would want them to at least know how to stall out the boat, deploy the liferaft and write write down thew position. I'm sad for both the victim and loved one that had to watch helplessly as she sailed away.
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Old 01-05-2013, 17:18   #2
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

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Originally Posted by Celestialsailor View Post
This in from Latitude 38...

"An experienced 38-year-old British sailor crossing from Osaka, Japan — where he'd been working for the last three years — to Hawaii, with plans to continue on to Southampton, UK, reportedly fell overboard on Saturday night about 575 miles west of Midway Atoll. Luke Stimson's fiancée, Laura Vernon, contacted authorities via sat phone after Stimson fell overboard — conscious and wearing a PFD — in 25-knot winds and 6-ft seas. According to news reports, Vernon was an inexperienced sailor and could only watch as the 38-ft Jonetsu sailed away from Stimson. She was rescued by a Navy helo Sunday morning.
An intense 50-hour search of the area, which turned up no signs of Stimson, was suspended yesterday. It's unknown how Stimson fell overboard".

For what it's worth. If I am sailing with one other person onboard, I would want them to at least know how to stall out the boat, deploy the liferaft and write write down thew position. I'm sad for both the victim and loved one that had to watch helplessly as she sailed away.
Amazing that she didnt have the forethought to at least "turn the wheel"..
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Old 01-05-2013, 17:19   #3
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

On my boat I have posted instructions next to the GPS near the helm station as to what to do in a MOB situation to record the position, posted instructions on how to start the engine, and instructions on how to call for help on the VHF. They are there to jog my memory and to help someone if I am not around. There is a lot more to a rescue than those things, but it is a start.
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Old 01-05-2013, 17:27   #4
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

She may have tried all she could in those conditions. It's always very, very hard to tell what really happened in a boating accident from press reports.

I think it would be awfully hard for an experienced sailor to get someone back on board in 25 knots and six foot seas single-handed.

I always try to wear a harness when sailing offshore with an inexperienced crew. How terrible it would be to put them in that situation!
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Old 01-05-2013, 17:30   #5
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

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I think it would be awfully hard for an experienced sailor to get someone back on board in 25 knots and six foot seas single-handed.
So true. Basically very little chance if you go overboard offshore, so do everything in your power to prevent it in the first place.
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Old 01-05-2013, 18:11   #6
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

My wife just read me this story.

We should start a subforum on here called "Arm Chair Admiralty" where we can feel more inclined to do what comes naturally on the Internet when situations like this happen.
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Old 01-05-2013, 18:25   #7
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

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Amazing that she didnt have the forethought to at least "turn the wheel"..
Whatever is familiar to you feels safe. Whatever took him overboard, he'd probably done it hundreds of times before. I don't understand why he thought it was smart for her to know nothing about how to handle the boat.
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Old 01-05-2013, 19:31   #8
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

It certainly gives one pause to think. Not only about wearing a harness but of what your companion's reaction/knowledge/ability would be, should the captain be the one to go overboard.
Very sad indeed.
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Old 01-05-2013, 19:36   #9
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

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It certainly gives one pause to think. Not only about wearing a harness but of what your companion's reaction/knowledge/ability would be, should the captain be the one to go overboard.
Very sad indeed.

A personal EPIRB might have saved him. A strobe light.

We don't know the whole story, and the press will get it all wrong because they don't sail and don't realize the signficance of everything they're being told, but if you had a drag line, seems to me you could just center up all the sails, turn the engine on, put out the drag line and turn back. Just about anyone could easily learn to do that. The sails might flap around a bit, but big deal.

She should have had skills to at least attempt to find him. It wouldn't have been hard to learn to send out a Mayday on the radio; might have been other boats or ships in the area. A big ship would have the advantage of height and maybe be able to spot that strobe.

A MOB could help her know where to start zigzagging with that drag line. Drop a cushion over and see which way the water moves.

I just don't understand not knowing these things under their circumstances. I can see where it might all be in vain, but not to be able to try -- that's just ghastly.
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Old 02-05-2013, 06:48   #10
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Well the story also says she was pregnant, 20knot winds 6ft swells can be a lot to handle for some. If under full sail turning the boat could be hard. Plus that moment of freeze, oh crap I just lost my man... There is a lot of should of, could of and would of, but until your there at the moment its hard to say. I feel for her and so sorry to hear of the loss.
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Old 02-05-2013, 08:14   #11
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

[QUOTE=Autumns Wind;1225403]Well the story also says she was pregnant, /QUOTE]

Where did it say she was pregnant?
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Old 02-05-2013, 08:28   #12
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

This is incredibly sad.
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Old 02-05-2013, 08:48   #13
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...alled-off.html
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Old 02-05-2013, 08:53   #14
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http://m.upi.com/story/UPI-39521367435703/
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Old 02-05-2013, 08:54   #15
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Re: Sailor lost overboard

Thanx for that. I see from the picture of him beside the vessel, that it has a liferaft. Maybe she was too far along in her pregnancy to deploy it for him.
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